Two piglets make life better

In 2009, Ms. Un, 43, decided to borrow $50 from the Village Bank (VB)—a local bank established by poorest families in the village with the support from LWF Cambodia to help its members improve their living standard through access to small business loan to invest in a pig raising business.

Ms. Hun Un feeds her piglets. She planned to sell all her piglets next year. On the right is her daughter Nhok Phalla, 5.

Combined with her savings of $5, she bought two piglets (a male and a female) to raise. Each piglet cost $27.50—a high cost which most poor farmers were unable to afford it.

Four months later, she sold the male pig and earned $187.50. She kept the sow for breed. As of 2011, her sow had five litters, equaled to 58 piglets in total.

Ms. Un said that she was very happy with her business. Combining

the income from the sale of the boar with her savings, in late 2009, she bought a water pump machine worth $267.50 for pumping the water from the canal to irrigate her rice field in the dry season in 2010.

To keep the business running smoothly, in each raising project, she sold a few piglets a month after their birth in order to get the money to buy feeds for nourishing the rest. In mid-2011, she sold 3 of the 10 piglets in the 4th litter at the cost of $50 each. A few months later, she sold the rest, earning $1,200.

Ms. Un’s husband Ho Nhok poses for a photo in his rice field.

Her sow had the fifth litter of 13 piglets in December. She sold 5 of them at $42.50 each. As her current sow is getting older, she reserved one female piglet for a replacement, while the rest was for sale. She expected to earn about $1,000 from the sale in May next year.

In addition to the incomes from the pig business, she had another major source of income from selling her rice surplus—the income which originated from the pig business. Without the water pump machine, her rice field yielded only 700 kg per hectare. It was not enough even for her family’s basic needs. But, now with the machine, the same field yielded 5 tons.

She has two hectares of rice field. In November 2011, she earned $2,000 from the selling 8 tons of her rice surplus.

Ms. Un said with the incomes from both businesses, she had a new house built, worth $3,500 in 2010. In 2011, she bought a new motorbike, Honda Dream 125, worth $1,200 and replaced the old water pump machine with a new one worth $230.

She planned to buy a home-made rice milling machine which costs $500 next year. She will also continue her pig raising business.

“My success today came from the strong support of LWF Cambodia,” she said.

Ms. Un has three children, aged 17, 9, and 5. The oldest child is a son. Her family lives in Phteah Rung village, Phteah Rung commune of Phnom Kravanh district in Pursat province.